In a lot of the online groups I monitor, there is a lot of chatter from B2B business owners about how social media can add value to their business or, more importantly, to their clients.  This is a great question, and worthy of a lot more attention than I’m going to give here.

First, let me put this out there:   There are some social tactics that simply don’t translate well to B2B.  I’m very unconvinced that a Facebook page for B2B is a great idea, or that your B2B company should have a Yelp review or Foursquare profile.  If you think about social tactics in the context of your strategic goals, you’ll uncover which tactics make sense and which don’t.

That said, I think the best way B2B business can use social media is as a channel to demonstrate subject-matter-expertise through creative content development and distribution.  Your client and prospect audiences already know you know how to sell.  But what else you got?  Demonstrating depth is a great way to differentiate.  When you create this kind of presence, you set the foundation for a real trust-based relationship with target audiences.

This takes time.  A blog is probably a good idea, and for some companies, photos might work well.  Driving awareness with traditional online marketing messaging and Twitter are key levers to creating success.

This specific tactic is no mystery.  Lots of companies are doing it today.  What I haven’t heard a lot about is how B2B businesses can create content services that their customers can then re-use.   When you think about it, clients of B2B businesses are trying to create their own value for their own customers in the B2C space.  B2B companies that help create this value are going to differentiate from competition in a big way.

So, how would this work?  Let’s look at a financial services company that provides investment products to agents that resell these same products to consumers.  For instance, financial products providers, like Fidelity, or T Rowe Price, or Schwab, or Vanguard distribute their fund products to agents who, in turn, sell these products to customers like you and me.  How does Fidelity, who is on the B2B end of the stick, provide value to their agent partners?  Well, in fact, in much the same way they have for decades:  by providing content to agents that allow them to provide good investment advice to their customers.

No doubt these agent companies want to leverage social media to create business value, and are using or investigating some tactics around content creation, like Tweeting or blogging.  If B2B companies like Fidelity can create this type of content for their client/agents, they are providing value for both their B2B partners as well as the end user of their products — the agent’s clients.  A winning combination for everyone.

B2B companies should explore how they can “white label” content for their customers.  And, this can include any kind of content.  Does your B2B customer want to tweet?  If so, maybe there is a way to tweet on their behalf, or educate them about how to re-tweet your tweets.  Do they need website content?  If so, can you provide educational content via RSS feed that will make them look good?  Explore these types of options, and see what is possible given your resources.  It could create a loyal and dedicated customer base for your B2B business.